Chapter 24: Lian'er's Second Brother Returns to the Capital and Tells of Family Matters; The Story of the Green Bean in the Red Chamber

  Not to mention Lin Zhiyuan's visit to the Lin family ancestral hall, Daiyu was busy with various matters in the mansion and took care of Xuegui and her two siblings.

  Jia Rui and Jia Er finally returned home two days before New Year's Eve. Upon hearing the news from a servant, Feng Jie was overjoyed and ordered the cook to prepare fine wine and dishes.

  Wang Xifeng and Ping'er hastily made their way to the upper house, knowing that her husband must have first gone to see Old Madame before returning to the courtyard. With something on her mind, she quickened her pace.

  The second-class maid Oriole, who was standing in the outer flower hall next to Madame Wang, saw Xue Baochai and loudly announced towards the inner room: "Second Mistress Xue has arrived." Oriole had always gotten along well with Ping'er, and she quietly added to this master-servant pair: "The elder mistress and second mistress are both inside!"

  Wang Xifeng hastily tidied up her clothes, while Ping'er lifted the pearl curtain. "Ancestor, I'm late."

  Lady Wang had always been particularly fond of Baoyu and Feng's sister, and she said with a smile: "I knew your second master was back, why didn't you come to see me earlier?"

  Mrs. Jia's words were meant in jest, but they sounded differently to Mrs. Xing, Feng's mother-in-law. As the second wife, Mrs. Xing had a humble background and thought that marrying into the Jia family would bring her wealth and status. However, she soon discovered that her husband was a fool who only knew how to find new concubines. Mrs. Xing had always wanted to win over Mrs. Jia and take charge of the household, but Wang's wife stood in her way, leaving no room for her to intervene. After all, managing the household was a lucrative business with many perks.

  Now Jia Rui has married the niece of Wang's wife, and this couple is actually following the second house to make a living, which is really infuriating.

  Mrs. Xing had always looked down on Wang Xifeng for trying to please Mrs. Jia and sucking up to the Wang family, so when she heard Mrs. Jia's playful words, her eyes took advantage of no one noticing her and fiercely stared at Wang Xifeng twice.

  Mrs. Jia asked, looking at Jia Lian who was standing in the middle: "Now that everyone is here, you can tell us about this trip to Yangzhou. What's going on? How did the Lin family produce such a son? Your last letter didn't explain clearly either. Who was it that was anxious for you to come back and make dumplings?"

  Jia Lian listened to his mother's scolding and hastily apologized: "It was all my fault for being rash and not explaining clearly. The young master of the Lin family is named Zhiyuan, he is the eldest son of my aunt's elder brother. Because Lin's eldest brother was born out of wedlock, he was not favored by Old Mrs. Lin, they had many quarrels, and after the division of the family property, they became estranged." Jia Lian glanced at his mother with his eyes, and remembering what Ruan'er said, decided to speak more praise for this Lin Zhiyuan: "This cousin of the Lin family is dignified in appearance, young and promising, a rare talent indeed."

  Wang Xifeng listened to Jia Lian's praise of the young master of the Lin family on one side, and her heart was anxious. She secretly blamed this person, didn't he see Madame Wang's face? Originally, she hadn't received any money, and now he came back to praise others like this, how could Madame Wang be happy?

  Jia Lian seemed not to have seen his wife's meaningful glance, and continued: "Young Master Lin is very fond of the young lady. Before he passed away, her father called for the elder members of the Lin family, as well as the Duke of East Ping, the Governor of Yangzhou, and the Commander-in-Chief of Jianghuai, and also his own son, to entrust them with matters after his death."

  He then pulled out a small, long flat box from his sleeve and handed it over to Yuanyang. "This was given by your uncle for you to bring back, saying that in the future he won't be able to fulfill his filial duties to his ancestors. This is the intention of showing respect to his ancestors. Inside there are a total of 17,000 taels of silver notes. 15,000 taels are for Old Madam, and 2,000 taels are for the two madams' intentions. There is also a letter from your cousin to her ancestors inside the box."

  Others didn't say anything, but just Lady Xing heard that she could get a thousand taels, and her face lit up with joy.

  It's not that Mrs. Xing had never seen the world, but rather that in their large household, the money was always controlled by Jia She. Mrs. Xing usually relied on her twenty taels of monthly allowance, and often deducted a little from the monthly stipend of the concubines who were out of favor, so she managed to get by.

  Nowadays, this Lin family's old master has clearly stated that he is giving himself a thousand taels, how can Mrs. Xing not be delighted?

  Mrs. Jia murmured "uh-huh" and didn't open the box, saying: "When you leave later, give this money to Lady Wang and Lady Xing."

  Madam Wang wouldn't even look at such a small amount of money, what she wants is the Lin family's hundreds of thousands or millions in wealth. Now it has actually become just this one thousand taels? It's really infuriating to death.

  Lady Wang looked at Jia Lian and said, "This child has been in Yangzhou for some time, how come he's gotten even paler? Thinner? Hmph, I'm sure he hasn't been up to anything good."

  It's already a done deal, do they still want to send someone to Suzhou to fight with the Lin family's young master for the inheritance? No, no, no, the Jia family would lose all face, and besides, the Lin family is a legitimate branch of the Lin clan, what reason is there to give them the money?

  Alas, this matter still needs to be planned for a long time.

  Forget it.

  "Jia's mother calmed down and said, 'Xiangyun is also tired, let's disperse today. Go back and have a good talk with your wife, she has been thinking of you all the time! Yuanyang,' Yuanyang beside her quickly responded. 'Take out another 1,000 taels from the box for Fengge, they both made a lot of effort, Xiangyun went far away, it's also a kind of training.'"

  Everyone divided up the money and left Lady Jia's chambers.

  Wang Xifeng and Jia Lian, Ping'er the three returned to their home, dismissed the attendants, leaving only the couple, Feng's daughter smiled: "Tell the truth, did you receive any benefits from Lin's young master?"

  Jia Lian naturally refused to admit it.

  "I'm not even clear about you, what benefits can you bring to the young master of the Lin family? Don't try to fool me here." Wang Xifeng and Jia Yu are a couple after all, with their minds set on money!

  Jia Lian smiled and said: "I told you, but you wouldn't believe me. Look at my bundle, it hasn't been opened yet. Just get Ping'er to turn it over, if there's even a single coin, consider it yours."

  He is so fearless and arrogant, for a very simple reason.

  Jia Lian is also a talented person. After getting along with Ruan Niang, he has been thinking of her all the time. He spent 1,000 taels to redeem Ruan Niang and rushed back to Beijing overnight. On the 23rd, Jia Lian didn't return home. After searching for two days, he bought a small three-room house in Ping'anli for 500 taels and four young maidservants. Two old women were also hired to serve Ruan Niang. He spent some money on furniture, new clothes, and New Year's goods. Of the 5,000 taels he had earned in Yangzhou, he spent around 800-900 taels and handed over the rest to Ruan Niang for safekeeping. It can be said that Jia Lian really trusts this woman and is not afraid of losing both his money and his heart!

  Wang Xifeng couldn't really go and rummage through Jia Yuanchun's luggage, and thinking again, even if the second master of their family had gotten it, it would have been a small head anyway, so she didn't bother to pay attention to it anymore.

  However, this clever and capable woman forgot that there is a Chinese saying that goes "when men have money, they become bad", which is not unreasonable.

  Jia Lian smiled and explained: "Actually, I helped Lin's nephew for our own sake."

  Wang Xifeng burst out laughing: "Hey, does he have three heads and six arms or what? Do the esteemed second master and mistress of Rongguo House still need his help?"

  "Women's views." Jia Xian said disdainfully: "Lin's cousin is the first in Suzhou, if not for mourning, he would have been a top scorer long ago. Although my time in Yangzhou was short, I can see that Lin's cousin is a clever and capable person. And the son of the Duke of Dongping is also a close friend. You haven't seen it, after Lin's uncle passed away, it was the son of the Duke of Dongping who followed Lin's cousin to take care of everything. Have you ever seen any young master in our capital city serving others?"

  Wang Xifeng thought for a moment, this kind of thing had never been heard of before, and she couldn't help but feel curious about Lin Zhiyuan.

  Jia Lian, seeing that Lady Phoenix no longer mentioned the silver matter, came up and hugged Xifen, although he had obtained Ruan Niang as his concubine, but a brief parting is better than a new marriage, let alone Wang Xifeng was also one of the few beautiful women.

  Two people were whispering, Ping'er replied from outside the curtain: "Second Madam, Second Lady has sent Caiyun to invite you over for a conversation."

  This one sentence "Second Mistress" thoroughly extinguished Jia Yu's lust. He said in a bad temper: "Alright, I had forgotten that there was still a money bag waiting at home!"

  "Ptoo!" Wang Xifeng spat at Jia Yu, "After all, she's my aunt, how dare you speak to me like that! This time you didn't succeed, but instead got her to scold me, and I still have to take the blame for you!" Wang Xifeng said with a bad face.

  Jia Lian lay down on the kang, letting out a comfortable sigh. The heated kang in Beijing was still the best, nothing like Yangzhou where winters were cold and gloomy.

  Wang Xifeng saw that Jia Yu was no longer paying attention to her, and in a huff, she flung herself out of the door and rushed straight to the second wife's courtyard.

  Mrs. Wang's face looked unpleasant, originally thinking that the Lin family had hundreds of millions in assets, which would be handed over to her own hands, first setting aside a portion for her daughter's future and leaving the majority for Bao Yu's marriage. But now, everything was gone, how could Mrs. Wang not feel hatred?

  Wang Xifeng entered the house, saw the one-thousand-tael silver note on the table, and looked at Madame Wang's face, which was really not good. She didn't dare to speak out either, so she stood there waiting for someone to speak up.

  After a long while, Madame Wang asked: "What did Xue Pan say to you?"

  "The Second Master had just come in, and we hadn't even had a chance to speak, when Caiyun called me over." Wang Xifeng said with a hint of resentment. Lady Wang was not from a humble background after all, and seeing the young couple reunited only to be summoned away by her, her face alternated between red and white with embarrassment.

  Mrs. Wang sighed and said, "I originally thought that since we are all relatives, I would borrow some silver from Lin's family to help our eldest daughter find a good match. But now it seems that's not possible. Take this thousand taels of silver first, and when you have time, give it to Manager Xia as a belated New Year's gift." As she spoke, tears began to fall: "Why is my Yuanchun so unlucky!"

  Wang Xifeng saw this and only advised: "Second mistress, don't be so heartbroken. The last time the Lin family's steward said that after the beginning of spring, Young Master Lin and Miss Lin will enter the capital. I think that young master is only 17 or 18 years old, what does he understand? He still has to rely on our family. There are many scoundrels in the capital, and the brother and sister have a large amount of family property in their hands, how can they not be coveted by others? It's better for us to help manage it, I think they would also be willing."

  Mrs. Wang listened to Feng's words and stopped crying, smiling and nodding her head. Suddenly she thought of something else and instructed Wang Xifeng: "You said the Lin family will come to Beijing after the spring begins, so hurry up and send a message to Aunt Xue, asking her to bring her children to Beijing, otherwise Baoyu will be spoiled again."

  Wang Xifeng was not convinced in her heart. Although she said it was her aunt, this person's behavior was too unscrupulous. She wanted to get someone else's money and didn't want to marry into their family as a daughter-in-law. It really verified that unpleasant old saying: wanting to be a prostitute while also setting up a chastity monument. Is there such a good thing in the world?

  PS: I received a reward from Lan Hua Jie yesterday, thank you so much! ^_^ This is a great support for my writing, and I will work hard to write more! However, the click rate wasn't very high yesterday, so I need to reflect on it. Last night, I re-posted one of my old fanfics that hadn't been updated in a long time, I'm afraid everyone would scold me haha. If you're interested, you can go take a look, it's called "Prince of Tennis - Jie Ting Girl", under the pen name Qian Chen Wang Shi.